Friday, 10 January 2014

The Alhambra of Granada - overview

The
Alhambra of Granada is the most visited tourist attraction in Spain, its only
rival is maybe the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Tourists throng here from all
over the world to see this amazing place and even we agree with the statement that
everybody has to see this beauty at least once in their lives. Due to its
popularity there are many books, websites and other platforms where one can
read and learn about it. My little blog would never end if I wanted to write
about all the wonders that you can see here. Instead I will show it to you
through the lens of our camera.

The
Alhambra is not one building but a collection of palaces built in different
times. Perching on the top of a hill and looking over the city of Granada it
looks austere and cold however as soon as you step inside you step into an
atmosphere that the Arabs called ‘paradise on earth’, a multitude of columns and
arches, water fountains in every little (and big) square, shallow pools that give
perfect reflections of the richly decorated walls. The sound of running water
and the nightingales during the warm summer nights escort you to every corner
of this complex.

The
decoration of the walls, ceilings and sometimes even the floor follow the
sacred symmetry of Arabian art. They believe that only God has the power
to create therefore they weren't allowed to depict anything that resembles a
living thing. In many places you can see the flowing Arabian script that some people always attempt to read. You can often observe a certain type
of decoration on the ceiling which (I overheard it from a guide) gives the
impression of water dripping from above.

Every
palace and every place has its own history and legends. All of them have the feeling
of age, of beauty and radiate a certain magic. We walked around its walls from
outside many times and went inside to do all the kinds of visits available. It
was extremely hard to choose the photos that I wanted to put in my blog and I
MIGHT HAVE gone a bit overboard, please forgive me for this.